1980 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

10/22/08-The brown bag tasted at the Knitters weekly dinner was the 1980 Montelena Chardonnay in celebration of the current movie Bottle Shock. The dinner host Laura Laskowski nailed it as being a Grgich chardonnay. Understanding that Mike was the winemaker for the 1973 chardonnay that won the shootout in France, and left shortly thereafter to start his own winery, the winemaking style and grapes at Montelena were probably very similar in 1980. The wine was an incredible treat. The color was a brilliant gold and the wine had intense fruit of sweet apples with absolutely no negatives. In the past the older brown bag wines were rarely finished, the 12 participants were usually satisfied with a small sip to evaluate the wine. This chardonnay was totally consumed before dinner began. Kudos to Mike and Ch. Montelena.